1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data management apparatus such as a multifunction peripheral (referred to also as an MFP), and a technique related to the data management apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Some multifunction peripherals (MFPs) having a plurality of functions including a copying function, a scanning function, a facsimile communication function, a printer function and the like also have the function (storage function) of storing various document files (data files) and the like in a storage part (hard disk and the like) thereof.
In recent years, it has been proposed to set the right of access to each of the document files for the use of such a storage function.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-67249 specifies a technique such that the right of access to each document file is set for each user group.
The above-mentioned technique, however, requires an authentication operation for each of a plurality of data files when access is made to the plurality of data files. When users belonging to different groups make access to the plurality of data files to which the different groups have been granted access, it is therefore necessary to perform an authentication operation for each of the plurality of data files.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-67249 uses ID cards for the authentication operation. Without the use of the ID cards, however, a user must enter a user ID and a user password each time the authentication operation is performed for each data file. This presents the problem of increased operational burdens on the users.
The use of the ID cards as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-67249 eliminates the need for the above-mentioned entry of the user ID and the user password during the authentication operation to reduce the operational burdens, but gives rise to another problem that the users must carry their ID cards.